The US government is closing 137 of about 2,100 data centres this year.
The move is a part of a wider strategy to to close 800 of the facilities by 2015 and move to cloud based storage to cut down costs launched by Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra. Last year, he released a 25-point implementation plan on the new strategy that promotes use of cloud computing.
Cloud computing has been claimed as the next revolution in IT. It is being promoted by companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft as a safe and cost effective way for companies and individuals to store photos, music and data on remote computers accessible anywhere in the world rather than spend on personal servers and hard disks.
Last week, Kundra said that the government has already closed 39 data centres, with 15 based in the Washington area and a third belonging to NASA.
"We’re cracking down on duplicative, underutilized assets across the federal government," he said.
As part of the data center consolidation, the government plans to close an additional 98 facilities this year.
